I've started making progress on the oversized, overbuilt, engine stand.
Found a reasonably local place that sells steel plate, tubing, bar stock,
etc in carbon steels 1010 through 1030 as well as many different stainless
varieties.

I'm grossly taking advantage of their "free cut" services, as they assured
me they cut "exactly" as indicated on the cut sheet. For this purpose it
doesn't have to be exact, just as long as the pieces that need to be the
same size are. So, the steel has been ordered, and I can pick it up
tomorrow around noon.

The stand's base will be made of 2" square, .125" wall 1020 mild steel
tubing, as will the four corner posts. There will be another 2" square
crosspiece somewhere around the middle of the stand's base to which I will
weld on uprights also made of 2" square tubing.

Boring holes into the engine mount uprights will be fun, but at least they
are smaller pieces. By doing so, I can then insert slightly smaller
square tubing also with holes, so I can adjust the height to meet the
motor mount plates. Each motor mount plate will essentially be a 4"x4"
3/8" thick steel pad, with two triangles of the same material welded at 90
degree angles with a 3/4" hole at each end of the triangle. This way,
they can mount onto the adjustable engine mount posts using a 3/4" pin or
a 3/4" bolt, and have a little angling play so I can bolt the motor mounts
of whatever engine I'm playing with to the square 4" plates. I have to
rent or borrow a plasma cutter to make slots, but thats not a big deal in
itself. Excuse for more tools!

Got the radiator today, got a good, solid radiator that wasn't even
slightly rusty from a BBF F450 pickup, so when it comes time to upgrade
the radiator I can have the new radiator cleaned up to replace the
351W-sized radiator thats in the truck now. Found in one of their sheds
an electric fan and shroud thats a hair larger than the radiator, as far
as mounting goes, so I'm going to mount the radiator on the front of my
uprights, and the fan on the rear of the uprights, and just make two
pieces of flat steel to box it in, which will allow the fan to cause
airflow through the radiator yet still be 2" away. This way everything
bolts to the 2x2" supports nicely. For idling and slight blipping, I
can't imagine the fan has to be right against the radiator if the airflow
is blocked of top, bottom, and both sides.

Also got a fuel tank, got a really weird plastic tank from a Jetta, there
is the normal rectangular section at the bottom that goes underneath the
car, but part of the tank curves up into the passenger side rear
wheelwell. I grabbed this tank mostly because it was the easiest plastic
tank to get out, most of the cars in this particular yard are stacked, and
because the gas tanks are in front of the rear suspension, they are often
resting on the roof of the car below it. I really wanted a plastic tank
because I don't really have to worry about leaks down the road. Steel
tanks eventually leak and I just didn't want to think about this ever
again for something that will be sitting around more than being used. Has
a fuel sensor as well as in-tank EFI pump so thats good enough for my
purposes. It was darn heavy, and I siphoned some of the gas out of it to
look it at, crystal clean, so I hooked a fuel filter I had sitting in my
bed-box in line with a siphon hose, and emptied the tank. Went from "I
had to drag it" to "I can almost toss it". Filled up the front tank of my
truck almost all the way! When the tank was almost empty, I dumped the
rest out as not to get grunge into my truck. But I'll take the free 12
gallons or so I got out of it. I asked the yard where to dump it, and
they said "anywhere in the parking lot is fine". Um, okay, guess they
never heard of the EPA. Asked for a bucket, and the guy repeated himself
"Just dump it anywhere" and walked away. Okay, will do.

Got a dash mounted ignition lock off a jaguar or a Benz, I don't remember
what it was but that car had the keys in it so why not. Got the brackets,
and about 2' of wiring harness snips. Small diameter cable so several
relays are going to be necessary, which I snagged off a FWD GM car. They
have these nice metal brackets with at least two, sometimes three or four
relays on them at the firewall. Of course, got connectors too. For a
cluster, I'm going to use the 88 F150 cluster "insides" that I couldn't
use in my truck because the wiring is different, but I dissected it enough
to figure out what goes where so it will work fine. At least I'll have a
v8 compatible tach, a temp gauge, a fuel gauge, a battery gauge, and of
course, don't need the speedo. Just have to figure out what the "8" input
on the tach means. Figured out B+, G, and SIG. Kinda obvious.

Found a 460 starter. I tested it using jumper cables, but it spun right
out of my hand so its good Already have a ford starter relay, and what
I hope is a 460 alternator (it was in their shed labeled "460, 85 amp" so
we'll find out soon enough), and some other bits for this project.

The only thing I really have to *buy* are four casters for the corners
which I'll do last once I'm sure this isn't a lopsided waste of money.

The base will be 40"x44", which I think is big enough that even
throttle-blipping monkeys like me, won't flip the engine over.

 

You gonna post some pictures of that bad boy when it's done?

 

Absolutely. Full picture shoot intended. I pick up the precut steel at noon in fact, and since its sunny out, I'm going to slide my welding table outside, once I move the 460 out of the way.

I have to stop storing motors on tires. Impossible to move.

 

Well, got the material for the engine stand today. It was water cut rather than saw cut, so its lying in the sun drying because I'm not quite ready for it just yet.

I think I'll get to welding at least the bottom span of the stand tomorrow late morning, early afternoon.

Spent most of today picking up materials, as well as tearing down the 460 in my garage. All I need is the intake and crap stuck to it, and the heads, and the crap stuck to them.

Everything else is leaving sunday morning.

Of course, some of the bolts snap on the heads, rather than on the block.

Murphy's law, of course. Though my being in a rush with the impact gun probably didn't help much. Was very liberal with the penetrating oil, but oh well.

 

People asked for pictures, here are some pictures. I've included basic detail with each picture. I wish I snapped more pictures, I like to document projects like this a little better, but I was really into the welding since I finally got it right.

Frederic's FTE Run Stand Gallery

More pictures probably later in the week as I start to make the 460 supports. Just waiting for the BBF ZF to arrive so I know the rest of the measurements.

 

More pictures in the gallery... illustrating the motor mount brackets, the uprights, and the crossmember.

Tomorrow I'll probably have a little time in the morning, to weld the cross member to the run stand, with two diagonals for better left to right support. Can't have a 1000lb engine resting solely on two 2x2 uprights

 

Final three pictures in.

Primed twice, two of four coats of blue, now its drying

Enjoy!

 

Lookin' good!

 

Looks like you did a great job on it.Nice choice of color also.lol

 

Thanks guys, was a fun project and good for practicing mig welding! Though I practiced on less critical parts of the structure, like the radiator support first, since this stand will have a 500cid stroker on it in a month or two.

If its not raining tomorrow, I'll have to put the 460 shortblock on it to see how it holds up. Rather test on a shortblock I don't need, before I put the 500cid stroker on... just in case